Kids shoes

[Chrysalis101]

My daughter just started walking and yes, she's my first. So far, I've been letting her grandmas buy her shoes. But the other day I ran across a clearance that was $5 for tennis shoes, and I felt it was a good deal (specially since they're name brand), but didn't get any because they were all too big for her now.
Young kids don't care about fashion yet, so I don't won't have that argument (yet). But should I go ahead and get her shoes that are 2 or 3 sizes too big? I don't know how kids feet grow, really, so I'm not sure. She just started wearing size 4s. The shoes I was seeing were 5-8s.
Any advice on how your kids' feet grow/grew/are growing and how many sizes ahead I can/should buy would be appreciated.

[CW&M Mom]

If you mean should you buy shoes now that she'll wear in a year or two...sure!

If you mean...should you buy the shoes 2 or 3 sizes too big and put her in them now...no.

The only thing I buy a little bit bigger then normal is snow boots. They don't get worn much and for whatever the reason my kids never fit in the size that they should be fitting into. since they are expensive, I try to get 2 years out of them...but then my kids only wear them maybe 3 or 4 times a season. If my kids had to wear snow boots every day...I probably choose differently.

[taylordvd]

My kids had really really wide feet. Their first did not need to be wide, but as they turned into a walking toddler they had to have extra wide shoes. My kids were not even close to being on the chubby side either. I know I will be in the minority, but I would not recommend buying ahead in size. Just buy them as she outgrows them and make sure the shoe fits her properly. At this age she only needs one pair.

[Nani22305]

I'd say yes, buy them, The baby will be in them in less than a year!

I usually buy on finish line.com on the clearance section, sometimes they have shoes for like $3-5!

[Spanelli8706]

My kids had really really wide feet. Their first did not need to be wide, but as they turned into a walking toddler they had to have extra wide shoes. My kids were not even close to being on the chubby side either. I know I will be in the minority, but I would not recommend buying ahead in size. Just buy them as she outgrows them and make sure the shoe fits her properly. At this age she only needs one pair.

I have this problem as well. Both DH & I have wide feet and both of our DD's have WIDE, chubby feet. (Both girls are twigs otherwise.) I have found that for us it's okay to buy Crocs in advance (like when we were just at the Crocs outlet store) and I will buy sandals in advance at the end of summer. With the sandals, I only buy the kind that velcro close over the toe/top of the foot as well as the ankle...because it is a pain to get their feet into any other sandal. With tennis shoes, we have to buy wide. I look at the Stride Rite clearance sales a couple of times a year but only buy current sizes on tennis shoes. And actually we recently tried Converse as I found some on clearance and they fit my kids feet really, really well. But again, I won't buy them ahead of time.

[Stacy]

I saw some really cute shoes for my daughter the other day. My twins are 16 months and are walking. I didn't get them because they were a size 6, she is in a size 3. Her feet are wide so I didn't want to get them and not have them fit her, width wise, later on. If you don't have that problem, then go for it, but I don't even like buying clothes they may wear next year either. LOL

[JulieDB]

I wouldn't do it. Every time I did do that, my daughter never wore that size! When her feet grow, they rarely grow one size. Sometimes it was a half a size but more likely it was 1 1/2 or 2 sizes seemingly overnight. She also has wide feet. I gave up on the notion of finding cheap shoes. Once in a while we would get lucky. But most of the time it would be like... Just show me what you have in her size! The store would usually have 2 or 3 pairs and that's it. She wears adult size now so it makes it all the harder. She still wants to wear the kids shoes. And she can't.

[jennsvs]

When shoes are really cheap (I think $5 is a great deal) I will buy ahead. If I find that my son outgrows them, I can still resell them to get my money back. I once came across Nike's at Kohls for $3.20, I bought one of every size they had. There were 6 different sizes. He only didn't get to wear 1 size because he outgrew them.

I say go for it. It does save money.

[Troop1379]

I would buy them. You never know when you might need them. kids grow so fast one day you might not need them they next day you might, you can also use them as gifts if she never wears them

[Chrysalis101]

All great advice, thank you!

DH has average feet and I had narrow feet as a kid that have widened out to normal width. But DD has wide feet for now. Hopefully she'll take after her Mommy or Daddy and not my MIL and they'll narrow out.

I guess, for now, I'll just skip the sales in favor of what'll be best for her feet in the long run. Which will actually save me money in the long run. My brother has to have orthopedic in-souls in his shoes that cost $500-800 a year because my parents couldn't afford to get him better shoes as a kid.

So, thank you all for your advice! May I just say, it's great being able to come here, ask just about any question and get a wide range of answers in less than 24 hours? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!